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"Needless to say, it wasn't very
pretty ... but during the overtime part, it was
pretty. We feel very fortunate. We didn't play nearly as well as we wanted to
play but in the overtime, everything we did ended up being ok for us. We got
such a terrible start; I didn't think we were into the game. We got it back and
got it tied, but made two huge defensive errors in the last two possessions of
the second half and gave them a three and a two. At half, they had scored 11
points off our turnovers and we had scored 5 off of theirs and it was a 6 point
game. We just had some silly turnovers and two or three terrible defensive
possessions. In the second half, I thought we were much better defensively.
James Michael [McAdoo] really got on the backboards and kept every miss, he was coming
down with the ball on the defensive side and making shots on the other end.

"You've got to win when some of your
guys aren't playing well and you don't have everybody. We didn't have P.J. [Hairston], and
Reggie [Bullock] and Leslie [McDonald] were 1 for 13 from the three-point line. We still had some guys
step up and make some big shots for us. I was frustrated towards the end
because James turned it over and then Marcus [Paige] turned it over, which was three of
our last four possessions.

"To be honest, I felt lucky to be in the overtime. I
told the team, this will be good for us, and I really believe that. We can
focus now for five minutes, and it really worked out for us. Desmond got a big
tip for us and a big block on the other end. Dexter [Strickland] and Reggie and Leslie and
Marcus worked really hard against Erick Green.

"We feel very lucky but we feel good because
it's a W. If they ever stop keeping score, then I won't care about who wins."

Regarding
Marcus Paige:

"There were a few times in the game
when Reggie passed up an open three to pass it to Marcus. I've said it all
along, I think he's going to be a really good shooter, though he just hasn't
done it yet. And I still believe that. He made some big shots, he made free
throws. In the overtime, he was the most important player on the court for us."

Regarding
defending Erick Green:

"We tried to keep fresh guys on him
but nothing really works because he's really, really good. They set a lot of
screens which are hard to get through. Reggie has a little more size and Marcus
did a good job guarding him, but everyone has to be aware and stay in a stance.
I think we got one foul where he dribbled off and attacked our big guys, but
other than that, they were down in a stance. We were lucky because he missed
some shots that he normally makes. I feel good about the job we did, but he is
hard to guard. I think he's a lead player.

Regarding James Michael McAdoo's Discipline:

"He showed a lot of discipline and
maturity the whole game because I was so mad at him in the first five minutes.
He tried to dribble through a crowd and had Marcus wide-open on the edge, so I
sat him down and let him think about it. We talked yesterday about everybody
taking good shots and good shots are where your feet are set and you have a
strong base. I thought he was sensational after the first five minutes. He can
shoot the ball, but his problem is that he really rushes. He carried us in the
long stretch."

Regarding
Marcus Paige's confidence:

"I've said all along he's going to
be a great player. It's hard to jump from high school basketball to the ACC but
it's been a big challenge."

Virginia Tech Head Coach James Johnson

Opening Statement:

"Another hard, tough loss for this team. Hard for all of the
guys that played. I thought they played well, I thought we played hard. I
thought we executed the game plan, put ourselves in position to win. The things
that this team has gone through, the last couple of weeks, to be here, with the
ball in regulation to end the game. We put ourselves in great position, we just
couldn't finish the game. I thought we ran out of gas a little bit in overtime."

On Green not scoring
last 16 minutes in regulation:

"I wanted him to be a little bit more aggressive, but they
(UNC) did a really good job. They switched different guys onto him, and put
bigger guys on him and bodied him a little bit. They did a really good job
defending him, funneled him into the lane and when you get into the lane you
had (Desmond) Hubert there and (James) McAdoo there. They did a very good job."

On the game-winning
attempt in regulation:

"We went to a ball screen situation for them and then we
pulled it back and then he (Erick Green) wanted to stay away from the double
team, he controlled it one-on-one and got to a spot to try to shoot over him. I
thought he got a good look."

On holding UNC to 55
in regulation:

"They executed the game plan, we took them (UNC)
out of their transition. We did a really good job at taking them out of their
transition. That's something they really want to do, especially here at home.
To hold them to 55 points in regulation, I have to tip my hat to our defense,
transition defense, our defense in general."

UNC PLAYERS

Dexter Strickland

On the Tar Heels
defense:

“We did a great
job as a team of containing them and forcing them to take tough shots.”

On teamwork:

“Marcus (Paige) did a great job. Reggie (Bullock) did a
great job towards the end when it was tied up, going into overtime. And Leslie
(McDonald) did a great job. Everybody just played team ball.”

On Paige’s overtime
performance:

“It was very important for him to do that. He stepped up and
made big shots. He’s a great shooter, and he proved that tonight.

“He’s a freshman, so it’s scary that he can step it up like
that and knock down big shots late in overtime. Hopefully he can continue to do
that.”

James Michael McAdoo

On his early performance:

“I don’t know what was up with me. I played horrible the
first three minutes or so, but Coach (Williams) sat me down and other guys came
in and stepped up. I tried to come back in refocused and make up for all the
mistakes I was making early on, try to make winning plays.”

On facing VT’s zone
defense:

“We knew coming into the game that they were going to be
running a 2-3 zone and at first I struggled with it, but we knew how to attack
it and we’d been practicing and knew it would be extended. I really just tried
to camp out in the middle and when my shot wasn’t there kick it out to Marcus,
Reggie or Dexter.”

On today’s game:

“It helps show us how much room for improvement we have, but
also, how talented we can be when we do play together as a team. I think we
really saw that in the second half.”

Marcus Paige

On his success in
overtime:

“Part of that came from my turnover at the end of
regulation. I was pretty disappointed in myself. To have the chance to get the
lead with 20 seconds left and throw the ball away is just a silly error on my
part I wanted to come out and make up for it in overtime.

On how the turnover
was affecting him:

“After that last defensive possession I was praying that he
would miss it because that would have been devastating to me. Just to see that
ball not go in and know that we had another chance to come out and regroup and
try to get the win was big.”

On hitting his first
three-pointer in overtime:

“It helped a lot. We were kind of struggling at times with
the zone. Whenever we couldn’t get it inside to James Michael at the high post
we kind of just stood around on the perimeter, so to get one to go down kind of
opened things up and really helped out.”